“WHAT HATH NIGHT TO DO WITH SLEEP?”: DEMENTIA CAREGIVER’S EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AND SLEEP DISTURBANCE

• Published in: Innovation in aging 2017-07, Vol.1 (suppl_1), p.619-620
• Main Authors: Leggett, A., Maust, D., Kales, H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abstracts
• ISSN: 2399-5300; 2399-5300
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.2177

Care provision for persons with dementia (PWD) can be rewarding yet may disrupt caregiver’s health, including sleep health. Using the National Study of Caregiving (NSOC), we examine reports of sleep disruption by dementia caregivers, as well as PWD and caregiver contextual factors, caregiver health and psychological well-being as predictors of sleep disruption. Our sample included 1063 caregivers for 717 PWDs. Waking and having trouble falling back asleep almost every night was reported by 15% of caregivers and 10% reported that helping the PWD caused their sleep to be interrupted almost every night. In a hierarchical linear model, greater sleep disruption was associated with caring for male PWDs, younger age, higher education, more chronic medical conditions, pain, emotional difficulty of the care role, and lower psychological well-being. Caregiver distress was associated with trouble sleeping over and above caregiver health and PWD disability. Thus, interventions improving caregiver distress may improve sleep health.